felt

1 of 3

noun

1
a
: a cloth made of wool and fur often mixed with natural or synthetic fibers through the action of heat, moisture, chemicals, and pressure
b
: a firm woven cloth of wool or cotton heavily napped and shrunk
2
: an article made of felt
3
: a material resembling felt: such as
a
: a heavy paper of organic or asbestos fibers impregnated with asphalt and used in building construction
b
: semirigid pressed fiber insulation used in building
feltlike adjective

felt

2 of 3

verb

felted; felting; felts

transitive verb

1
: to make out of or cover with felt
2
: to cause to adhere and mat together
3
: to make into felt or a similar substance

felt

3 of 3

past tense and past participle of feel

Examples of felt in a Sentence

Noun She made her son's costume from scraps of felt.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
These charging mats, made with plush felt and vegan leather, can declutter and elevate a work space. Jenna Anderson, Sunset Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024 Cut two pieces of white felt and a piece of cardstock, all slightly larger than the pattern. Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Nov. 2023 Made from felt and hot glue, these homemade candy ornaments add a whimsical touch to your tree. Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Nov. 2023 Customize each Christmas gnome with colorful felt and wood beads. Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Oct. 2023 To make, cut the felt into 7-inch strips, about 1/2 inch to 1 inch in width. Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Oct. 2023 Artsy Adults class at library An Artsy Adults Fall Stitching class is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Escondido Public Library’s Turrentine Room, 239 S. Kalmia St. Participants can create a fall decoration using different seasonal felt shapes and buttons. Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Oct. 2023 Evan Agostini/Invision/AP While not one of the major food groups, a bagel and a schmear made of felt might satisfy your appetite for art. John Carucci, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2023 Create ghosts by putting white gauze over a few of the twig balls and add black felt circles for eyes. Megan Boettcher, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 Oct. 2023
Verb
The Handy Laundry dryer balls are made from 100% New Zealand wool, rolled and felted into tight balls. Alida Nugent, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Jan. 2024 Unlike the natural wool felts and sheepskin liners, down insulation does not insulate when wet. Meg Carney, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024 The work also shows off the artist’s technical skills with a felting needle, from the texture of the chair’s wood grain to the girl’s hair and the little Pittsburgh Steelers diamonds studding her clothing. Grace Edquist, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2023 Arnold increasingly collaborates with others, gathering diverse groups to work together to create large-scale felts. Susan Brown, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 June 2023 Included in the set are four different types of felting needles, wool yarn, key chain attachments, phone lanyards, a felting pad, an awl, jump ring openers, and screw eyes. Talia Abbas, Glamour, 28 Mar. 2023 The material most often used in the process of felting is wool. Susan Brown, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 June 2023 There are also a few other accessories to help you with a variety of projects including three bobbins, a pack of needles, two spool pin felts, a needle plate screwdriver, a seam ripper, an all-purpose foot, a zipper foot, and an instruction manual. Brandi Fuller, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Apr. 2023 Needle felting Googly eyes, squishy snouts, rounded little noggins? Talia Abbas, Glamour, 28 Mar. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'felt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English felt, felte, feelte, going back to Old English felt (only in glosses), going back to West Germanic *felt-, *filt-, probably from a neuter s-stem paradigm *feltaz-/*filtiz- (whence also Old Saxon filt "coarse woolen cloth, blanket," Middle Dutch vilt, vilte, velt "felt," Old High German filz "coarse woolen cloth, felt cover"), of uncertain origin

Note: Germanic *feltaz- "felt" has traditionally been taken as an e-grade ablaut derivative corresponding to o-grade in Old High German falzan, felzan "to inset grooves in a sword blade," falzunga "joint, juncture," continued in Middle High German by givalzen "damaged, knocked or chopped off," velzen "to inlay (gemstones)," valz "mating of birds, channel in a sword blade, middle of a double-edged blade (where two pieces are joined), groove separating the back and cover of a bookbinding." Outside German the only apparent Germanic verbal cognate is modern East Frisian falten "to break down flax fiber," and falte "tool used to soften flax." (See A. Lloyd and R. Lühr, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Band 3, pp. 44-45.) The original meaning of this verb is taken to have been "to strike, beat," with beating taken to be part of the felt-making process. Another likely nominal derivative of this verb is contained in a word for "anvil" in West Germanic: Old English anfealt, Old High German anafalz (with *falt-) alongside Old English anefilt, anefilte, Middle Dutch aenvilte, anevilte (with *feltja-) (see anvil). Germanic *felt-, *falt- has been further connected to a presumed Indo-European *pel-d-, *pol-d-, from which also allegedly descends Latin pellere "to beat against, push, strike." However, this reconstruction of pellere has more recently been disfavored on both phonetic and semantic grounds—see pulse entry 1. Also of relevance to Germanic *feltaz- is the Slavic etymon represented by Old Russian/Russian Church Slavic pŭlstĭ "felt, felt rug," Russian polst' "felt" (now largely superseded by vójlok, of Turkic origin), Serbian (regional) pȕst, Slovene pôlst, Czech plst, Polish pilść; for pre-Slavic the etymon has been reconstructed as *pl̥d-ti "act of pounding, something pounded" (see C. Michiel Driessen, "Towards an Indo-European Term for 'felt'," Journal of Indo-European Studies, vol. 32 [2004], pp. 25-42). Though the relationship is suggestive, a common etymon for "felt" and definite connections to an Indo-European verbal root are still lacking. See also pileus.

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of felt was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near felt

Cite this Entry

“Felt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/felt. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

felt

1 of 3 noun
: a heavy material made by rolling and pressing fibers (as of wool) together

felt

2 of 3 verb
1
: to mat together
2
: to make into felt

felt

3 of 3

past of feel

Medical Definition

felt

past and past part of feel

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!